Concealed latch for oven doors



Aug. 25, 1925.

H. L. PAGE CONCEALED LATCH FOR OVEN DOORS Filed Nov; 20; 1922 6 E g w Patented Aug. 25, 1925.

UNITED STATES 1,551,211 PATENT OFFICE.

HOWARD L. PAGE, or cHIcAeo, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO HOME STOVE & FOUNDRY COMPANY, A conrone'rron 10F ILLINOIS.

GONGEALED LATCH FOR OVEN DOORS.

Application filed November 20, 1922. Serial No. 602,038.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HOWARD L. PAGE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, county of Cook, 'State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement inv Concealed Latches for Oven Doors, anddeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawing, which forms apart of this specification. I

The oven doors of gas stoves are provided with catches for holding them yieldingly closed and permitting them to be opened by simply pulling sharply on the doors. The

most usual form of catchis one which projects outwardly from the front wall of the oven at the top of the door-opening and snaps over a projection on the upper edge of the door when the door is swung into its closed position. This type of catch not only produces an undesirable projection on the front of the oven but, becauseof its nature, soon becomes more or less rusty, and thus mars the appearance of the front of the oven which, together with the door, may have an attractive enamelled or nickeled surface. Furthermore, such catches must be made comparatively stiff, and therefore a strong push or pull is often required to move the door into or out of its closed position.

The object of the present invention is to produce a simple and novel catch construction for an oven door which will leave the front surface of the oven and door uninterrupted by a projection of any kind, which will be completely concealed when the door is closed, and which will efficiently perform its holding function without requiring the expenditure of any considerable force in order to close or open the door.

The various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterized will hereinafter he pointed out with particularity in the claims; but for a full understanding of my invention and of its objects and advan tages, reference may be hadto the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure l is a front view of the oven side of a gas stove equipped with door catches embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a View, on an enlarged scale, of a fragment of one of the doorframes and doors, viewed from within the oven and showing the catch and a Fig. 3 is a section taken approximately on line 38 of Fig. 2.

In the drawing I have illustrated two doors, one above the other, but since the same catch device may be used on each,.I shall confine the description to the catch as applied to oneof the doors.

. Referring to the drawing, 1 represents th door frame surrounding the door-openin 2 of an oven, the frame having an inward ydirected flange 8v on the inner or rear side;

this flange lying wholly within the oven and forming in rear of the door-opening a frame somewhat smaller than said opening. 4: is a door hinged at the bottom in a usual or suitable way, as indicated at 5, so as to permit the door to be swung from an open position into a closed position within the dooropening, with its outer surface substantially flush with the outer surface of the frame and bearing on the inner side against the shoulder formed on or by the flange 3. That portion of the flange which extends along. the top of the doors-opening is provided at the middle thereof with a hole 6 extending through the same. A dog or catch member in the form of a flat plate 7 flanged along the upper edge as at 8, to form a head, BX tends vertically through the hole in the flange. Since the vertical depth or thickness of the flange is comparatively small I prefer to employ a holding plate 9 fastened to the inner side of the frame across the catch or dog member so as to form a guide therefor. A leaf spring 10 extends across the upper end of the dog or catch underneath a rib or projection 11 on the frame and into a suitable anchoring device 12, so that the dog orcatch tends constantly to position itself with its lower end projecting into the door-opening. -The lower end of the dog or catch is reduced to a knife edge, as indicated at 14, while the door is provided in, its upper edge with a shallow V-shaped groove 15, so positioned that when the door is swung shut the dog will ride across the upper edge of the door until it drops into the groove. By making the groove shallow the dog will ride up out of the same easily when a slight pull is applied to the door to open the same.

It will be seen that the catch is wholly pended claims.

invisible from the outside of the oven when the door is closed, so that it does not mar the appearance of the oven and no pains need be taken to construct it of a material which Will not rust or discolor. Furthermore, since the movement of the catch is in the plane of the door when the latter is closed and the controlling spring is effectively applied thereto, the locking action of the catch will remain unimpaired for an indefinite length of time Without making the groove in the door so deep as to require the application of a considerable force to open the door.

While I have illustrated and described with particularity only a single preferred form of my invention, I do not desire to be limited to the exact structural details thus illustrate-d and described; but intend to cover all forms and arrangements which come within the termsemployed in the definitions of my invention constituting the ap- I claim: 1. The combination wlth an oven havmg a door opening and a framehke flange surtion.

rounding the opening and lying Within the oven, of a door hinged so as to be movable into and out of the opening, a spring-actuated catch lying behind the door and extending through said flange, said door having in one edge a shallow groove adapted to receive the catch when the door is closed and thus hold the door closed Without exposing any holding means on the exterior of the oven.

2. The combination With an oven having a door opening and a frame-like flange surrounding the opening and lying within the oven, ofa door hinged to the oven so as to be movable into said 'door opening, said flange having a hole extending through the same, a dog slidable in said hole, a spring tending to hold said dog in a position in which it projects into said door opening, and said door having in the edge thereof a shallow groove adapted to receive the end of the dog when the door is closed. s In testimony whereof I sign this specifica HOWARD L. PAGE. 

